Appendices I-X referred to herein have been included in a microfiche appendix consisting of 2 sheets and 157 frames.
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a computer controlled signaling and telephone communication system and method for notifying a subscriber of a telephone call placed by a caller to the subscriber.
2. Background of the Invention
Telephone systems are well known and, indeed, a number of techniques are known in the prior art to facilitate connecting a caller (i.e. the party initially placing the telephone call) with a telephone subscriber (i.e. the party whom the caller is trying to contact by telephone). Of course, a very well known way to accomplish this end is to have a telephone ring at a subscriber""s presumed location.
It is well known, however, that subscribers move about during the day, and therefore, other techniques have been employed to try to place callers into telephone communication with subscribers. These other techniques include paging systems and voice mail systems. However, both paging systems and voice mail systems typically suffer a drawback in that the subscriber must receive or pick up a message either from the paging system or from a voice mail system, or some combination of the two, and thereafter, place a telephone call to the caller in order to be placed into direct telephone communication with the caller.
A problem with this approach is that it is not particularly efficient. By the time the subscriber receives the page and responds to it, the caller may have left the place from which they were telephoning or may be at an unknown location, in which case, the subscriber is frustrated in attempting to make telephone contact with the caller.
One solution to this problem, as suggested in the prior art, is to provide a xe2x80x9cmeet-mexe2x80x9d service in which a caller is placed on hold at the same time the subscriber is paged to a telephone. The subscriber then telephones a telephone system and the system, upon recognizing the call from the subscriber, connects the subscriber with the original caller who has been placed on hold. This xe2x80x9cmeet-mexe2x80x9d system is described. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,425 (to Guinn) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,151,929 (to Wolf). When the subscriber is connected to the caller this action is sometimes known as xe2x80x9cbarging inxe2x80x9d.
This prior art xe2x80x9cmeet-mexe2x80x9d system, while improving telephone communications, still suffers certain drawbacks. For example, in a modern office, people do not necessarily stay put at their desk. They need to interface with other people in their office, and therefore, discussions may be held in offices other than their own or in conference rooms and; of course, they may leave the office to go to lunch, the bathroom or run errands. Some subscribers have a tendency to use the prior art xe2x80x9cmeet-mexe2x80x9d system a great deal of time. While it is possible with current telephone systems to switch the xe2x80x9cmeet-mexe2x80x9d service on and off, it does require that a subscriber input certain codes at a telephone to switch off the xe2x80x9cmeet-mexe2x80x9d service and then key in certain codes at a telephone to turn the xe2x80x9cmeet-mexe2x80x9d service back on. If the subscriber uses the xe2x80x9cmeet-mexe2x80x9d system in the manner described, they are supposed to telephone the system to turn off the meet me mode whenever they arrive at the office and turn it back on whenever they leave the office. That might work well in theory, but it does not work well in practice because people forget to switch their telephone service, either when leaving the office or returning to the office; or alternatively, they will leave their telephones in the xe2x80x9cmeet-mexe2x80x9d mode 100% of the time.
A problem which arises when a subscriber uses the xe2x80x9cmeet-mexe2x80x9d mode is that it takes a relatively long time for a caller to make telephone contact with the subscriber, since even if they are sitting at their desk, the xe2x80x9cmeet-mexe2x80x9d system first pages them, requiring them to pick up their telephone and input certain numbers in order to gain access to a telephone switch where they eventually meet their caller. A telephone call which might otherwise take only 15 or 20 seconds to complete, can take three or four times as long when the subscriber leaves their telephone in the xe2x80x9cmeet-mexe2x80x9d mode.
It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to provide and improve this xe2x80x9cmeet-mexe2x80x9d service. With the improved xe2x80x9cmeet-mexe2x80x9d service described herein, a telephone subscriber may keep his or her telephone in a xe2x80x9cmeet-mexe2x80x9d mode most of the time, but the system, in addition to paging the subscriber, also places a telephone call from the caller to one or more expected locations. Moreover, even if the paging feature is not utilized, it can be very advantageous to be able to try to contact the subscriber at a plurality of locations at more or less the same time automatically. For example, a telephone call placed to a subscriber can be redirected as a plurality of calls placed more or less simultaneously to the subscriber""s home, car telephone and office (for example). The caller can be connected to whoever answers these calls, while the other unanswered calls continue to ring. If the paging feature is utilized, then the subscriber can respond to a page by calling into the system and be connected to the caller regardless of whether any of the plurality of calls were answered.
The present invention provides a system and a method whereby an incoming telephone call is handled by a telephone system controller. The controller is preferably a programmed device, much like a computer (in fact in the preferred embodiment it is a computer which has been adapted in certain ways to enable it to communicate with the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)). The controller initiates a plurality of contemporaneous communications seeking the subscriber. This plurality of contemporaneous communications may include a plurality of independent telephone calls to different destinations or at least one such telephone call and a contemporaneous page.
Another problem which prior art telephone systems have relates to allowing the subscriber to monitor a telephone call thereby giving the subscriber the opportunity to answer an incoming call or to allow the caller to be handled by an answering machine. Indeed, modern answering machines allow the user to listen to (i.e. monitor) an incoming call in order to decide whether to answer the call immediately or to allow the answering machine to complete its task. As is well known, however, telephone subscribers are apt to receive more than one telephone call at a time, but conventional answering machines can only deal with a single call at a time (unless the cost of a second telephone line and a multi-line answering machine are borne). Several technologies have been developed to provide smoother telephone services which enable a subscriber to deal with an incoming telephone call if they happen to be on the line with another party at the time a telephone call is received. The xe2x80x9cCall Waitingxe2x80x9d service offered by many telephone companies allows a caller to receive a second telephone call after having answered a first telephone call. Telephone companies have also offered voice mail services to their subscribers. However, those services do not allow a subscriber to monitor an incoming call like a telephone answering machine does, but those service do have the advantage of being able to take a message from more than one caller at the same time or to take a message while the subscriber is engaged with another party on the telephone. As a result, these technologies (conventional answering machines and telephone company provided voice mail service) have competed with each other since they each provide service needs which the other cannot provide.
In addition to or complimentary to the improved xe2x80x9cmeet-mexe2x80x9d system mentioned above, the present invention provides a voice mail system to which an incoming call may be directed. The incoming caller may be routed to the voice mail system directly or after having been processed by the system in a manner which will be described in greater detail below. The subscriber can then connect to the voice mail system in a xe2x80x9cmonitoring modexe2x80x9d which allows the subscriber to overhear the message being left by the calling party for the subscriber. If they wish, the subscriber may barge into the telephone call so that they may speak with the calling party, after having preferably given the calling party notice that the subscriber is barging in. The subscriber may barge in from a telephone instrument which is called by the system or after the subscriber has telephoned into the system, for example, in response to a page.
These and other features of the invention will become even more clear upon reading the following detailed description in conjunction with the attached drawings.